Years ago, I read a beautifully illustrated book called Masquerade written by Kit Williams. Although it seemed just like a regular children's book, hidden within its text and graphics were clues that led to a valuable solid gold hare pendant buried somewhere in the UK. I spent many enjoyable hours trying to solve the puzzle, which was eventually figured out and documented.
So I was excited to hear about a new book called A Treasure's Trove which is written along similar lines and contains clues to the whereabouts of 12 gold tokens hidden all over the US, each redeemable for a jeweled insect with a combined value of about $1 million. I ordered a hardback copy today and will no doubt spend plenty of time trying to solve the puzzle. According to the book, the insects are not buried or located on private property, just well hidden.
Since I'm also interested in geocaching, I'll be on the lookout for GPS coordinates buried in the clues, since that would be a high-tech way to indicate the location of the treasures.
This is the first in a series of blog entries: here is part 2.
I was fascinated.... until I did a quick Google search. It looks like somebody figured out how to find the tokens and found all except the Caterpillar.
(This post is spoiler-free.)
I'm a bit skeptical, except he has a detailed description of how to solve the puzzles and photos of what he claims to be the tokens.
This could be a hoax, such as somebody trying to distract potential treasure hunters to give themselves more time to find the tokens. I don't have the book to see if his solutions are real.
The instructions for exchanging the tokens for the real jewels is on the back of the gold tokens. According to his lengthy post, it sounds like there is a puzzle on the back of the tokens that needs to be solved, and all of the tokens are needed to solve it. He's still missing one so he can't solve the final puzzle yet.
If true, it could explain why the author has said that no tokens have been exchanged yet.
His post:
(warning: it contains solutions to some puzzles which may be real)
http://atreasurestrove.blogspot.com/2005/01/atreasuretrove-jets-complete-solution.html
Posted by: Dylan J Greene | Feb 03, 2005 at 12:35 AM
This looks like a marvelous scavenger hunt. Do you know if one gets to keep the JEWELED insects?? - I am not a big fan of insects, but jewels.. ah.. c'est magnifique.. Bring on the BLING BLING, what a great motivation to find the treasures.. How are you planning on combining A Treasure's Trove with Geocaching?
Posted by: SBG-P | Feb 03, 2005 at 08:59 PM
Yes, you get to keep the BLING BLING! ;-)
Posted by: SBG-G | Feb 03, 2005 at 09:13 PM
The book is clever and ingenious....if anyone thinks of this book in terms of lewd
then that is pathetic. The fairies are fanciful and playful..just the way you would imagine them to be!
As for the code to the clues,the one's previoulsy provided by Jet aren't authentic,
check out the Author's site...www.atreasurestrove.com to check for yourself.
Good luck to those who can dream and imagine too!
Posted by: Reader | Feb 20, 2005 at 10:48 AM
everyone should be able to find these jewels like MD and so on. It isn't fair to them!
Posted by: terrell | Feb 21, 2005 at 07:43 AM
According to the author's website, updated daily, no one has turned in a token. There are 13 tokens, each redeemable for one of the insects, if turned in within 30 days of discovery. They are seperate puzzles and are solved independently.
It is all great fun and seems to have groups of people spending evenings poring over his book with a magnifying glass, a dictionary, a computer and ignoring the TV. The man is a genius!
Posted by: Becky | Mar 03, 2005 at 10:56 PM
me and my friend have been searching the book for about a month we think that one of the tokens is in Seqoui National park. is it? did you hide the tokens?
Posted by: james | Mar 05, 2005 at 06:04 AM
The author was interviewed on a local radio station just this week and said that indeed not a single coin/insect has been located! I just received the book today, and cannot keeps my eyes off of it!
Posted by: A.T. | Mar 09, 2005 at 02:00 PM
in reference to the not fair statement. Contact your state legislature about not being able to participate as they are the ones that made that silly rule.
Posted by: CD | Mar 16, 2005 at 10:39 AM
were can i buy that boook
Posted by: Natalie | Mar 25, 2005 at 09:39 AM
I was just reading that book here are the answers to your questions:
He could not have found them all because on the official website it says that none have been found yet.If he did say that he would be diqualified because it is part of the rules that says you can't do that.
You get to keep the insects.
I will post the details of the insects later.
barnes + noble
Posted by: Taylor | Mar 27, 2005 at 01:34 AM
i need help
Posted by: nick | Apr 10, 2005 at 02:35 PM
i just started to read this book. and in 1 hour i found many clues. but there is 2 pages that are very confuseing???like on the pages 20 & 21....at the bottom there are black lines coming up and so i looked in the mirror to see if they were backwards words and they were...but i cant figure out all the letters? then on page 83..the limbs make out words like at the top right it saYS, " BUT IT IS NOT WHOLE?" i dont understand the rest.. can any one help me?
email me if you have found any clues to help thanx..
[email protected]
Posted by: h.d | Jun 03, 2005 at 05:56 AM